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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27164044">Casper, the Moderately Friendly Mysterious Ghost</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/devoosha/pseuds/devoosha'>devoosha</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Voltron: Legendary Defender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Keithtober 2020, Lance is the Devil, M/M, Mysterious Ghost Prompt, and Ben Jonson, and shakespeare, but not a real one, he’s in a terrible costume, it’s all over the place, keith is a ghost, literally and for Halloween, they quote Sir Mix-a-lot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 00:29:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,416</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27164044</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/devoosha/pseuds/devoosha</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Matt convinces Keith to go to a college frat party, so Keith goes in a terrible ghost costume - terrible, but it gives him the courage to flirt and dance with the cute guy from his English Lit class.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Keith/Lance (Voltron)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>198</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Klance: Into the Multiverse, Klasix Master Collection</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Casper, the Moderately Friendly Mysterious Ghost</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Our Drink Write Draw Klance group is celebrating Keith’s Birthday - and a couple of the mods came up with a prompt generator meme using birth month and first initial.  I got “Mysterious Ghost”.  Thing is, I don’t really like reading monster fics, much less writing them, so it’s a costume party.  And Keith is cheap and not good at costumes.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Casper, the Moderately Friendly Mysterious Ghost</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Anonymity gave him courage.</p><p>He could flirt and hit on anyone he wanted without risking anything.</p><p>No vulnerability.  No humiliation.  No exposure.</p><p>All thanks to the cheap chintz sheet found this morning.</p><p>And like, he didn’t want to go to the party.  Matt was the one to convince him to go.</p><p>Maybe that ‘cute guy’ would be there.  He’d low-key crushed on him since college started.  Okay, maybe not low-key.  Low-key crushes…well, you didn’t think about them constantly.  You didn’t stare at them in Introduction to English Literature for two hours and ignore the lecture.  You didn’t imagine dates, meeting his family, him meeting your family, getting to know his friends, planning your wedding. </p><p>Wait.  No.  Okay.  Yes.  He may or may not have entertained the idea a few times. </p><p>Alright, already.  It was a high-key, head-over-heels crush.  Sue him, he was weak for that type.</p><p>And maybe, just maybe, ‘cute boy’ would be at the party.  And, with newfound confidence, he thought maybe, just maybe, he might be able to hit on him.  He wouldn’t be able to do it any other time.  But this sheet and the voice modulator Pidge gave him would certainly allow him this. </p><p>Please please please be there.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>The music pounded against his head, immediately giving him a slight headache, but he pressed on, following Matt into the house.  Whose house?  He had no idea.  He thought it might be one of the frat houses, but it was dark by the time they got there and he couldn’t see well through the sunglasses Pidge made him wear.  (“You have pretty unique eyes, Keith.  Who else has purple eyes?”)  It was true, though they were a deep blue.  If he wanted anonymous, he’d have to hide his eyes too.</p><p>So, the thing is, parties are not his thing.  Keith avoided crowds and people.  He was one of those types who preferred staying in as opposed to going out, especially if it was loud and obnoxious.  Like a party where a bunch of strangers got drunk, high, and handsy.  Sure, he’d like to get handsy with the ‘cute guy’, but not if it meant a dozen other people put their hands on Keith. </p><p>He just wanted ‘cute guys’ hands.</p><p>Okay.  Focus.</p><p>Problem was, this party was huge.  Way too many people packed in way too small a space for a crowd.  With his sunglasses and only two small holes cut into this cheap sheet picked up at the Salvation Army, Keith could barely see a thing, let alone if ‘cute guy’ was anywhere in his vicinity.</p><p>This.  This was not well planned out.</p><p>If you could call Matt and Pidge helpfully coming up with said plan today a planned out plan.  Matt mentioned the party while they were all hanging out at Pidge and Matt’s house.  Matt and Pidge, with many odd looks between them, then proceeded to annoy the piss out of him by trying to convince him to go somewhere he didn’t want to go.  After much arguing on Keith’s side and much persuading on Matt and Pidge’s side, Keith found himself squeezing between hot and sweaty people wearing every type of costume on the planet, holding onto the back of Matt’s wizard cloak for dear life.</p><p>Pidge, being only fifteen, couldn’t go.  She didn’t want to anyway.  (“A bunch of gross college kids?  Fuck no!”)  That left Matt, two years older than Keith, who’d been to many of these parties before.  Matt maneuvered his way confidently.  Keith, not so much.  A combination of his nerves and the fact that he couldn’t fucking see.</p><p>The crowd thinned out around the kitchen, but not by much.  Matt stopped and Keith bumped into him.  “Watch where you’re going,” he complained.</p><p>“Don’t fucking stop in front of me.  I can’t see a fucking thing right now,” Keith growled.</p><p>“So, you see your little loverboy?”</p><p>“Did I not just say I couldn’t see anything?”</p><p>“Pidge didn’t cut those holes very well,” Matt observed.</p><p>Keith reached up, lifting the edge of the cheap sheet with his arm, to take off the sunglasses.  “That’s a little better,” Keith said loudly, peering back at the room they’d just passed through.  All he saw was a hazy sea of arms swaying above a hazy sea of heads not at all in time to the music.  It was chaos and there was no way to see if ‘cute boy’ was there.</p><p>“If he’s here, I’ll find him,” Matt assured him, giving Keith a weird sort of smile.</p><p>“What does that mean?”</p><p>“That my tracking skills are top-notch?”</p><p>“No.  For one, your tracking skills are shit.  You failed that in cub scouts.  Second, I didn’t mean what you said, I meant how you look.”</p><p>“I think I look fabulous.”</p><p>“Your expression, idiot.”</p><p>“Nothing!” Matt exclaimed in a very unconvincing voice, raising his hands in an innocent-seeming gesture that Keith didn’t buy for a second.</p><p>Not that Keith could discuss further.  It was too loud for one, and he wasn’t about to shout at Matt just to be heard. </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Okay.  So maybe Keith was wrong about Matt’s tracking skills.  How he found ‘cute guy’ among fifty or so drunken college students, Keith could not be sure.  Especially off Keith’s vague description of said ‘cute guy’. </p><p>Yet.  Here ‘cute guy’ was, standing in front of him, Matt between them grinning maniacally at Keith.  The cute guy was dressed as a devil.  Appropriate, Keith thought, the way his very existence disrupted Keith’s sanity.  But, Matt had found him and dragged him over.  “We found him, Lance!” Matt said.</p><p>“So, who’s your friend?” Lance asked, eyeing Keith.  Thankfully Lance couldn’t see Keith’s open mouth and shocked face.  Matt knew Lance?  What the fuck?  Why didn’t that asshole of a supposed friend tell him?</p><p>“Neighbor,” Matt answered.  “We’ve been friends for a long time.  He’s between me and my sister in age.”</p><p>“Nice,” Lance said.  “Interesting costume choice.”</p><p>Keith flushed under his sheet.  So, okay, Keith couldn’t find a white sheet at Salvation Army.  Apparently, rich people didn’t donate nice white sheets to charity.  No.  They donated bright blue sheets covered with bright yellow flowers. </p><p>But.  Keith felt bold despite his flush.  Lance had no idea who he was.  Had no idea what he looked like.  Had no idea they shared a class where Keith had fallen for him.  His identity was masked.  Hell, his voice was masked.  He could do or say anything and not worry about the consequences.</p><p>“Thanks,” he said, his voice distorted through Pidge’s cheap voice modulator.  It turned his voice into what he hoped was a sexy, gravelly tone.  “I picked it to match your eyes.”</p><p>He could tell Lance did not expect that answer.  A flare of…something…sparked in those matching blue eyes.  It took a moment – Keith could see Lance’s mind-shifting – “My eyes aren’t yellow,” he teased.</p><p>“They’re as bright and blue as a summer sky,” Keith said.  He fluffed out the sheet a little with the hands hidden under it.  “This is the closest I could get to compete with the beautiful color yours is.”</p><p>Lance hid his grin behind his glass.  “Flattery will get you everywhere,” he responded.</p><p>“I hope it does.  I’d go everywhere with you.”</p><p>“It’s almost like you know me already?” Lance said, lowering his glass and looking Keith up and down.</p><p>“I’ve met you in my dreams every night.”</p><p>“Wow.  Just wow.”  Matt stared at Keith as if he’d grown another, maybe two, heads.  “That is…yeah.  I’m just gonna leave you two…” he said, pointing both forefingers toward the kitchen.</p><p>“Wait!” Lance yelled after Matt’s retreating back.  It was no use.  Matt high-tailed it out of there, leaving the two of them as alone as they could be amid a crush of people.  “He didn’t even introduce you.”</p><p>Keith didn’t need an introduction, and there was no way he planned on telling Lance who he was.  He was sure Lance didn’t know him or his name – Keith rarely spoke up in class.  Only when called on where he would answer in a low, embarrassed tone.  Not that Keith wasn’t great at English Lit, but he was shy about showing off how well he understood the material.  “I don’t need an introduction,” he blurted out.</p><p>“What?” Lance practically yelled. </p><p>It was too loud and crowded in here.  “I don’t need an introduction!” Keith said louder.</p><p>“So then what’s your name, Mr. Mysterious Ghost?”</p><p>Uh.  What could he say?  Keith was a pretty common name, after all, but his flirty statements before kind of indicated he already knew Lance (how else would he know Lance’s eye color?).  Would Lance know there was a Keith in his English class?  “Uh.  Casper.”  It was the first thing that popped into his mind.</p><p>Lance apparently thought this funny.  He threw back his head in laughter, jostling the girl pressed up against his back. She moved away after giving him a dirty look.  “Casper, huh?” he asked, the laughter remaining in his expression.  “And I’m sure you’re pretty friendly?”</p><p>“Moderately friendly,” Keith replied, but Lance didn’t seem to hear him because he leaned in closer.  “Moderately,” Keith repeated.</p><p>“Do moderately friendly ghosts like to dance?” Lance said loudly into the air near where Keith’s ear should be.</p><p>Keith didn’t.  He sucked at dancing – mostly because he was too self-conscious of his awkward movements.  Now?  Hidden away from all these people who wouldn’t have any clue on who was embarrassing themselves in the middle of the room?  And with a hot guy he’d been crushing on?</p><p>“They do with you!”  Smooth, Keith, smooth.  This anonymity thing did wonders for his ability to flirt.</p><p>Lance couldn’t grab his hand, so he hooked his fingers around Keith’s shoulder and steered him into the crush of bodies gyrating in the living room, tossing his empty Solo cup on the floor.  It was hot pushed up against Lance – a necessity since there were so many people there.  He sweated a bit under his sheet, from both the heat and from the way Lance moved against him.  Any more conversation was impossible because of the music.</p><p>A few times Lance tried to push away the sheet, maneuver it off Keith somehow, but Keith held it on firmly.  Lance shouted something at him, but he couldn’t make it out.  Lance, it appeared, had a hard time figuring out how to dance with someone draped in a sheet, with no arms or anything.  He finally pressed up against Keith’s front, draping long, thin arms over Keith’s shoulders.  Keith automatically lifted his hands to Lance’s hips, enveloping part of him in the sheet and getting a grin when his fingers dug in through the cloth. </p><p>Something about the situation loosened Keith up tenfold.  He hadn’t even snuck any alcohol yet, but he felt drunk on euphoria from Lance’s proximity.  Lance was flexible and agile, rolling his hips and swaying, pressing all points of his body against Keith, and Keith responded.  He’d never danced like this and the sheet between them became his crutch.  He ground up against Lance’s thigh, sliding his hands now to the small of his back, pulling him closer.  Lance’s mouth dropped open and Keith wished he could have heard the gasp.  This was fun.</p><p>The modulator fell to the floor, likely crushed beneath stomping feet, but at this point, Keith didn’t care.  They couldn’t talk anyway, so there was no need to change his voice.</p><p>This slow and sensuous dance they had going on did not match the music at all – a thumping club mix that should have had them jumping all around like the rest of the crowd.  Despite the music and the press of people, Keith felt like they were in their own bubble, the way they clung to each other, the way they ground against each other.  When Lance spun him around to basically dry hump him from behind in time to the music, Keith thought he would pass out.  There was a telltale hardness against his ass and he flushed heatedly when he felt it.</p><p>Lance’s arms were tight around him, Lance was nuzzling his face against his sheet-covered head, pulling a little at the sheet, though Keith held it in place in his hands.  Before he knew it, they were at the edge of the crowd – Lance was steering him toward the back of the house.  What…wait?  What?</p><p>Cold air hit him hard as Lance untangled his hands enough to slide the door leading to the backyard open.  Next thing he knew they were standing on some kind of deck.  The loud music and crowd noise lowered a bit as Lance slid the door closed and Keith realized they were alone.  Oh shit.  No.  Things were going well and now…alone.</p><p>“Sorry!  I wanted to, I don’t know, talk or something.  But I couldn’t in there,” Lance explained, gesturing to the door. </p><p>Keith made a sound between a laugh and a groan.  Wait, he told himself, he still had the anonymity of the sheet.  Lance still didn’t know who he was.  “You want to just talk?” Keith asked, crossing his arms under the costume, though the effect on Lance would be lost.  He suddenly wished he hadn’t dropped Pidge’s voice mod thing.</p><p>Lance laughed, though he rubbed the back of his neck…was that nervously?  Why should he be nervous?  “Well, I guess.  I mean,” he hesitated over his words.  “Like maybe??”</p><p>“It’s kind of cold out here.”</p><p>“Well, I didn’t want to drag you upstairs to one of the rooms.”</p><p>Keith flushed.  He knew what went on in the rooms upstairs at parties.</p><p>Lance added, “I thought you’d get the wrong idea.  Especially the way you dance.”</p><p>“The way I dance?” Keith asked blankly.</p><p>“Dude that was like the sexiest dancing ever.  And I know you could tell I liked it, though it did kind of feel like I was dancing with Cousin Itt,” Lance said, looking away.  The thud of the music reverberated through the walls, but it wasn’t loud.  It matched Keith’s heartbeat though.  “Anyway, I thought if I took you upstairs.  And.  Well.  I mean, I couldn’t do that.”</p><p>“Oh.  Oh, yeah.  Thanks.”</p><p>Lance waved a hand, “No problem.”  He fidgeted a little in front of Keith, looking from side to side like a kid about to stammer a confession of guilt. “God, I’m really bad at this.”</p><p>“Bad at what?”</p><p>“Figuring out what to say!”</p><p>Keith could understand that – he was the same. “I’m bad at it, too!”</p><p>“Dude, you’re really smooth, what are you talking about?”</p><p>“Only 'cause you can’t see me,” Keith admitted.  “If I wasn’t completely covered, I’d never even talk to you.”</p><p>“You wouldn’t?  Why?”</p><p>“Cause…just…look at you!” Keith gestured toward Lance, then realized it probably just looked like some giant erection tenting the sheet in front of him to Lance’s point of view.  Because even though Lance was dressed in all red, wore little devil horns on his head, and a cheap plastic devil tail pinned to the back of his pants, he still looked completely hot.</p><p>“What do you mean?”</p><p>“You’re so out of my league,” Keith said, shoulders drooping.  He should just turn around and go back to his dorm room.  Forget about this – Lance would never be interested in him anyway.  He could wait for class on Tuesday and stare longingly at Lance for the lecture period.</p><p>Lance chuckled.  “I’m kind of flattered you think that, but it’s not true.”</p><p>“How do you know that?”</p><p>“Cause I’m nothing special,” Lance said.  He stepped over to the deck railing, turned, and leaned back against it.  “But I think I know what you mean.”</p><p>“You do?”  Keith stayed in his spot, eyeing Lance through the eyeholes.</p><p>“Yeah.  I’ve had this little crush on someone out of my league this whole semester,” Lance said with a shrug.  “Like, I keep telling myself he won’t be interested and all, but I can’t stop thinking about him.”</p><p>“Oh,” Keith said, though his heart sank in disappointment.  There’d be no chance with Lance if he was hung up on some other guy.</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“Why do you think he’s out of your league?”</p><p>“I don’t know, Casper,” and at first Keith didn’t know who he was talking to.  Oh, wait, yeah he said Caspar was his name.  “He’s just really cool, you know?  Kind of badass looking.  Resting bitch face and all that.  Wait, that doesn’t sound flattering, does it?  He’s gorgeous though, all dark eyes and dark hair.”</p><p>“He sounds…cute,” Keith said half-heartedly.  He didn’t want to hear about Lance’s crush.</p><p>Lance crossed his arms, looking down at the floor of the deck.  “Cute doesn’t even cut it to describe him, Caspar.  But, it’s more than that.  You know?  He’s real smart.  We have a class together.  He doesn’t speak up much, but when he does, it’s always like, the most intelligent and insightful answers.”  Lance then smirked, looking back up at Keith.  “I like big brains, and I cannot lie.”</p><p>Keith got that reference.  “You other brothers can’t deny,” he returned.</p><p>“Yes!  I knew you’d get it, Casper!”</p><p>Keith laughed, some of his heartbreak easing.  It was nice, at least, to laugh with Lance.  They were silent for a few moments until Keith blurted, “I like smart guys, too.”</p><p>“Yeah?” Lance said, his eyes narrowing.  “Well, Casper,” he continued, though Keith thought it strange he kept saying that name, “I must inform you, then, that my IQ is pretty high, and I was off the charts for my SAT scores.”</p><p>“Maybe that other guy will be impressed.”</p><p>“Aren’t you?”</p><p>“Um…well, you like that other guy.  The one in your class.”</p><p>“Mmm.  I do.  A lot.”</p><p>“So, why should it matter that I’m impressed.”</p><p>“I mean, we were just rubbing our junk against each other, so…” Lance said, lifting his hands to either side of him. </p><p>“Oh my god.”</p><p>Lance giggled.  “Sorry.”  His laughter trailed away into silence again.  “You’re right, though, Casper.  I am totally hung up on this guy.”</p><p>“Why don’t you ask him out?” God, Keith was an idiot.  Stupid suggestion to tell your crush.</p><p>“Like I said, out of my league.  Casper.”  He kept saying that name with emphasis.  “How do I go up to a guy who can understand Chaucer and Shakespeare and just ask him to eat ramen heated up in my dorm room while binge-watching Food Network?”</p><p>Keith froze.  Oh shit.  Chaucer and Shakespeare?  Lance meant someone in their English Lit class.  Fuck.  Not only would Keith pine away now in class, but he’d also do it knowing Lance himself was pining away for someone else.  “Uh.  That sounds like a perfect date to me.”</p><p>“It does?”  Lance stood up straighter and took a couple of steps closer to Keith, his expression morphing into something determined.  “Even to someone who knows what the fuck Shakespeare is saying in his plays?”</p><p>“I.  Uh…” Keith stammered, taking a step back.</p><p>“You think it’s a good date, my Casper, the Moderately Friendly Mysterious Ghost?”</p><p>What the fuck was happening?</p><p>“Um…”</p><p>“You followed me up on Sir-Mix-a-Lot,” Lance said.  “How about this?  ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’”</p><p>“‘Thou art more lovely and more temperate’,” Keith automatically replied.</p><p>“See?” Lance asked.  Ah, it was a few steps closer and Keith’s fight or flight – okay, mostly flight – kicked in.  He certainly didn’t want to fight Lance.  He could think of a few other close-quarters things they could do instead.  “And I bet this guy in my class could even recite the Ben Jonson, too.”</p><p>“Uh, yeah…” Keith said.  They’d learned that song.  Keith had done a presentation on it.</p><p>Lance was really close now and Keith couldn’t back up much further before falling down the steps off the deck.  “Mmm,” he hummed.  “‘Drink to me only with thine eyes’,” he began.</p><p>“‘And I will pledge with mine’,” Keith responded.</p><p>“‘Or leave a kiss within the cup’.”</p><p>“‘And I’ll not ask for wine.’”  Keith said, wondering, again, what the hell was happening.</p><p>“‘The thirst that from the soul doth rise.’” Lance continued, his eyes intent on Keith.</p><p>“‘Doth ask a drink divine.’”</p><p>“‘But might I of Jove’s nectar sup.’”</p><p>“‘I would not change for thine.’” Keith finished the lyric in a voice above a whisper.</p><p>The silence in the yard was broken by a couple of frat guys coming out on the deck, likely looking for a place to smoke whatever they were smoking.  It broke the little spell and Keith ducked around Lance.  “We should head back in,” he said.</p><p>Lance grabbed his arm, bunching up the sheet in his hand.  “Wait, Keith.”</p><p>What?  What?  Did he hear Lance right?  He spun around, the sheet twirling at his ankles.  “What?” he gasped.</p><p>“What?” Lance asked, looking perplexed.</p><p>“You called me Keith.”</p><p>“That’s your name, isn’t it?”</p><p>“No!  No, um, no.  It’s…it’s.  Oh shit, what was it?  Casper?  Casper!”</p><p>“Are you asking yourself or telling me?”  Lance now sounded thoroughly amused.  The two frat guys leaned against the rail on the other side of the deck passing a joint between them and watching with interest.</p><p>“Telling you!”  Keith was starting to panic.  He didn’t want Lance to know it was him.  The quiet guy in his English Lit class.  Who, oh shit, grinded on him while they danced.  Keith would never be able to go to class again.  And he liked that class! </p><p>“Oh, come on, Keith.  I knew it was you.  Matt texted me before you guys got here and told me what you were dressed as.”</p><p>Keith shrunk away from Lance, though Lance still had hold of his arm.  “Matt…what?”</p><p>“Matt promised to tell me what you’d be dressed up as.”</p><p>Keith was really confused now.  “What?”  He was sounding like a broken record.</p><p>“I know Matt.  He was in the robotics club with my best friend.  When I found out he knew you, he promised to get you to come tonight.”</p><p>“Why?  Why’d you want to know?”</p><p>Lance stared at him, ignoring the snorts and giggles from the frat guys sharing the deck with them.  Keith’s brain felt like it was slogging through a field of mud.  “Why…” Lance began, then sighed with a shake of his head.  “Okay, maybe I overestimated the intelligence of my crush.”</p><p>“What does he have to do with this?”</p><p>“Oh.  My.  God.” Lance stated each word slowly and distinctly.  Then laughed.  “Everything?  Why do you think I know that Ben Jonson lyric so well?”</p><p>“Cause it’s a really good piece of writing?”</p><p>“Well, that’s true,” Lance said.  He looked like he wanted to laugh, but was biting his lower lip.  “Okay.  My crush did a presentation on Jonson.  And since my crush seemed to like him, I learned that song by heart.”</p><p>“But I.  I mean.  I mean, Keith.  Keith!  Keith was the one to do that presentation.”  His panic was in full swing.</p><p>“And….” Lance drawled out.  “You’re Keith.”</p><p>“I.  Well.”  Keith couldn’t think of what to say.  His mind whirled, and he grasped at any strands of logic he could to work this out.</p><p>Oh.</p><p>
  <em>Oh.</em>
</p><p>Oooooooooohhhhhhhhh.</p><p>“Are you finally catching up to me?” Lance asked.</p><p>“I’m Keith.”</p><p>“Yes.  I know.”</p><p>“And.  I did the presentation.”</p><p>“Yes.  I’m well aware of that.”</p><p>“Hey, ghost!  He’s talking about you!  I’m dumb and even I know that!” one of the frat guys watching yelled out.  His friend laughed like a hyena, bending over.</p><p>“I’m?  I’m your crush?”</p><p>A smile burst through Lance’s expression, lighting up his eyes, which seemed to overflow with amusement.  “Yes, Keith.  Dios mio, it took you long enough.”</p><p>“But.  But.  You’re out of my league!”</p><p>“Hardly.  Come on.  Take off this atrocious bedsheet and let me see you.  It’s been killing me this whole time not to be able to see your face.”</p><p>Keith stood, limply, as Lance pulled at the sheet, sliding it from over Keith’s head to land on the deck between their feet.  He wanted to run again, but his feet wouldn’t move no matter how much his brain yelled at them to go.  He felt very exposed, now, standing in his jeans and sweatshirt.  He could feel his hair was full of static; it was probably floating around his head in a cloud. </p><p>Yet, Lance looked at him with…was that adoration?  Then it fully hit Keith, harder than it had a few moments ago.  Lance <em>liked</em> him!  He’d spouted off about this crush of his to Keith and he was talking about <em>Keith</em> the whole time!</p><p>“I’m sure you can breathe better at least,” Lance said.</p><p>“Yeah…”</p><p>“Your voice changed from before.”</p><p>“Pidge gave me a voice mod thing.  I didn’t want you to recognize me.”</p><p>“So you were hoping I’d be here?”</p><p>“It’s the only reason I came.”</p><p>“And here you think you’re not good at flirting.  Without a mask on.”</p><p>Keith flushed, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.  They didn’t say anything for a moment.  Just darted their eyes around, catching each other’s gaze here and there.</p><p>“Jesus, kiss him already!”</p><p>Keith had forgotten the frat boys were watching.  He groaned, hiding his face in his hands.</p><p>“Dude, they probably don’t wanna cause we’re here,” the other frat guy said.</p><p>“Oh yeah.  Yeah.  Right.  But, bro, I’m committed.  I gotta see this play out.”</p><p>“I mean, yeah, but they probably want privacy to tongue fuck, bro.”</p><p>“Bro…”</p><p>Lance started laughing and Keith peeked over his fingertips.  Lance’s laugh was contagious, and the situation was funny, so he started laughing, too.  Just a little.</p><p>“We can’t disappoint our audience, Keith,” Lance said, grabbing Keith’s wrists and gently pulling Keith’s hands from his face.  He was so so close and Keith’s heart was beating so so hard.  The kiss, when Lance finally bridged the gap between them, was light and chaste.  Little more than a press of one smile against the other.  But it set off sparks in Keith’s body and felt more intimate than their earlier dirty dancing.</p><p>“Dudes…bros.  Man, that’s awesome!” frat guy number one said, punching his friend in the arm.</p><p>“Fuck, bro, why?” the other asked, rubbing his arm.</p><p>Lance laughed, softer this time, bumping his forehead against Keith’s.  “The ramen and Food Network offer still stands.  I have a dazzling array of flavors to tempt you.  Are you in, Keith, my Mysterious Ghost?”</p><p>“I’m in.”</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Writing oblivious Keith is a joy in my life.</p><p>Look for me on twitter.  I sometimes post funny stuff @devoosha</p><p>My writing is found on Tumblr @devooshawrites</p></blockquote></div></div>
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